The Federal Building and Post Office now houses headquarters of the Fifth Coast Guard District and serves as the Command of the Atlantic Fleet.
It is the largest collection of historic houses in their original locations between Alexandria VA and Charleston SC on the Atlantic Coast. It includes houses from the 1700s through the 1900s.
Frederick College was Portsmouth’s only four-year college, opening as a two-year college in 1958, expanding to a full four year program in 1961, and closing in 1968. The Portsmouth campus of TCC occupied the former Frederick College grounds along the James River until the new campus opened near Victory Boulevard.
WAVY-TV, the Hampton Roads area’s third-oldest television station, began operations on September 1, 1957. It was originally owned by Tidewater Teleradio along with WAVY radio (1350 AM, now WGPL). It originally signed on as an ABC affiliate, but traded network affiliations with NBC affiliate WVEC-TV (channel 13) in 1959 due to its radio sister’s long …
The three ships are replicas of the three ships which came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, the first permanent English colony in America. Naval Shipyard’s largest drydock, No. 8, was altered to enable docking the largest ships afloat, passenger or naval.
With the tunnel alternative, the need for car ferries no longer existed. It was not until 1983 that the pedestrian ferry returned to the Elizabeth River and began to once again connect the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. Today, the ferry carries about 300,000 riders a year.
Called by locals, the Downtown Tunnel, it is also known as the Portsmouth-Norfolk Bridge Tunnel. The original tunnel was two lanes and now serves as the westbound tube (the eastbound tube opened in 1987). The original tunnel is 3,350 ft in length from entrance to exit and reaches a depth of 92 ft below lowest …
200 years strong, Portsmouth was celebrating its Bicentennial Celebration 1752-1952 for a whole year. Many of her leading citizens grew beards, there were event to celebrate our illustrious History and of course their was the “Hoss Show and Rodeo” at Portsmouth Stadium for five days. Downtown was eagerly awaiting the final completion of the Downtown …
Station WSAP-AM(1040 AM) is rumored to be the first FCC license granted after Pearl Harbor. At the time, Portsmouth was the largest city in Virginia without its own radio station. WSAP-FM came about in the late 40s but did not last very long as most did not have FM radios at the time. Televangelist Pat …
Naval Shipyard doubled in size: 43,000 at peak employment and 101 new ships were built for the fleet. National Guard units and men and women from Portsmouth served in all theatres of war.
After the World War I, employment at the shipyard dropped significantly. No new ships were being built. in 1925, the Navy decided to revitalize and retrofit its battleships. Six of the fleet’s older battleships were modernized at the Norfolk Navy Yard: the TEXAS in 1925-26, the NEW YORK in 1926-27, the NEVADA in 1927-29, the …
Navy Yard built the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, U.S.S. LANGLEY, converted from collier JUPITER.
While early flight tests took place off the deck of the USS Birmingham as early as 1910, it wasn’t until 1919 that construction of America’s first aircraft carrier began. The USS Langley (CV1) was officially commissioned on March 20, 1922 and was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, one of America’s first aeronautical engineers. On October …
Navy Yard greatly expanded; three new drydocks and 24 ships built. National Guard units from Portsmouth joined the A.E.F. in France. Employment reached a peak of over 11,000 workers by 1919. The government developed two planned communities to accommodate workers: Cradock for White employees and Truxton for Black employees. The USS NORTH CAROLINA (BB-52) was …
The Great White Fleet which Theodore Roosevelt assembled to circumnavigate the globe illustrating America’s naval power sailed out of the shipyard and was greeted home by the president in 1909. The four squadrons of warships, dubbed the “Great White Fleet,” were manned by 14,000 sailors and marines under the command of Rear Adm. Robley “Fighting …
Captured Spanish warships were brought to Portsmouth to be refitted as American vessels. The Spanish wounded were brought to the Naval Hospital where they were visited by the defeated Spanish Naval Commander and President Theodore Roosevelt. The shipyard had the second oldest Marine barracks in the nation. Marines from Portsmouth saved the embassies in China …
This was the Battleship Texas: the first in the U. S. Navy. The Texas was built in reaction to the acquisition of modern armored warships by several South American countries, and meant to incorporate the latest developments in naval tactics and design, including the mounting of her main armament en echelon to allow maximum end-on …
George Teamoh was born a slave in Norfolk County. Prior to the Civil War, he escaped to the north and to freedom. in 1865, he returned to Virginia and attended an African-American political convention in Alexandria. Upon his return to Portsmouth, he worked at the Naval Shipyard and focused his efforts on workers rights. In …
There was a shifting mix of military and civilian authority in Portsmouth during this period. As the federal troops were forced out of the ship yard, they burned it to keep federal forces from gaining access to the ships, weapons, and technology housed there. The Federal troops occupied Portsmouth for the remainder of the war.
Dr. White, Portsmouth’s delegate to the secession convention, voted against secession on April 17th though he did end up joining the Confederate army afterwards. One Portsmouth company, the Marion Rifles, was disbanded after 14 of the 15 soldiers voted against the secession referendum in May. While there were those Portsmouth citizens who served the Confederacy, …